Skírnismál, Byggvir, and John Barleycorn

Abstract

In the Eddic poem Skírnismál, generally thought to reflect a myth of the wakening of arable land to the light and warmth of spring, the god Freyr’s messenger Skírnir (‘the radiant one’) woos the giantess Gerðr on his master’s behalf. From the offer of rich gifts to the reluctant maiden he turns to a series of vituperative threats that culminates in a menace of runic magic that will generate states of impatience, frenzy, and intolerable sexual desire. This seemingly chaotic litany of intimidation is here compared to Loki’s sarcastic treatment of Byggvir (‘Barley-boy’), another of the god’s servants, in Lokasenna and to cultic agrarian practices centered in apotropaism, as illustrated in the British ballad of the murder of John Barleycorn. This perspective aids in understanding Skírnir’s reference to the fate of the thistle at harvest-time and clarifies the rhetorical register and function of the poem’s threats, which constitute a verbal grotesque, as Skírnir chivvies the dormant earth into responding to spring cultivation.